Through the first year, I have accumulated many posts that I never completed due to lack of motivation, or enough knowledge to flesh out the text. In this post, I humbly present to you my rubbish bin, AKA unpublished post drafts:

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01/29/2010

03/01/2010

From BikeReg.com:

Leave your expensive Flux-Capacitors and fancy wheels at home cause it’s WV and we got pot holes, but do not forget your climbing legs, and yes, they can have hair on them too. We don’t judge! If you want to climb your legs off come join us over in West “by god” Virginia for some wicked hard yet truly fun grassroots road racn’!! This race course has just about everything a cyclist could wish for in ridge top views, back country road, big climbs and gear pounds flats.This course starts and finishes at Gospel Tabernacle Church on Shannon Run Road. This race course has just about everything a cyclist could wish for in ridge top views, back country road, big climbs and gear pounds flats. Starting out at Gospel Tabernacle Church you head North on Route 19 towards Kirby. Then a left on Kirby Road and across the mountain to Route 218. Then it is a right turn to head North on RT 218 into Pennsylvania. Ride 218 all the way up to Waynesburg. A quick right on cook road and over top the mountain you will find yourself returning south on Sugar Run Road. At Kirby, PA take a right on Kirby road and then it back country roads all the way back to the finish in Mt Morris.

The race is 47 miles, and registration is $20, regardless of category.

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Nothing Like A Freshly Paved Road

06/03/2010

12/10/2010

Mountain bike season came around pretty fast this year, Serious riding started in April, and road riding peaked in late September… Once the temperature dropped enough, I hit the MTB with full force. After a few component upgrades, something was off on the fit of the bike, and I felt like adjusting my cleats was a good idea.

This was the biggest cycling related mistake I made in the past several years… or at least I thought it was…

My left knee started killing me after my first ride with the new cleat adjustment. My IT Band also felt like it was cut with a knife.I decided I would take a week or two to let the tendonitis/ITBS to calm down, and stop hurting. These two weeks were terrible… The weather was perfect to ride, all my friends were riding; and there I was… not riding. Total bummer.

The inability to do something that you enjoy just because of one thing is so demoralizing.

I knew I had the entire skillset to ride with my buddies; I had the endurance, the riding skills, and everything else needed… except the injury was inhibiting me from riding.

What do you guys do when you’re injured and can’t ride or perform some other favorite activity?

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Luckily I did not have writer’s block too many times this year, and I hope for even more published posts in 2011!

This Saturday was the Appalachian Cyclocross Series Race #6 sponsored by Michael Miller DDS in Buckhannon. The race was set on a balmy saturday morning, with the temperatures hovering just above freezing the entire time. For this being a very ‘southern’ race, as it is considered for WV Cyclocross, there was still a pretty fair turnout, and a lot of fun was had. I ran around the race course, shot some video, and got some post race interviews too.

The course was moderately short, even in terms of a cross course, but it was rough. The grassy fields were mowed the day before, but were sorta lumpy. It took the energy out of people pretty quickly. There were three noteable barriers that you will see in the videos: Typical 12″ cross barriers, a very small stream path that had to either be jumped or hucked over, and a chicane laden vertical switchback that was very entertaining for the spectators to be around.

Lots of racers were using dedicated cyclocross bicycles, and I even saw a classic 1976 Raliegh road bike out there along some of the mtn bikes and whatnot. Everyone seemed to have fun, and JR really put on a good race.

I’ve sold off my Dawes road bike to a buddy of mine who has been looking for one since spring. I haven’t ridden it very much since the addition of the cyclocross bike, and I can understand where the cross bike has filled in the place of a true multipurpose drop-barred bike. It will have a good home, and I got some more space to pile more useless stuff in it’s place~

The Gary Fisher Cobia is a wonderfully complicated and sweet bike. The pricepoint of it in 2009 was just a hair over $1000, and came with parts that were fairly matched to that price. Subsequently, I have upgraded the entire cockpit, the brakeset, and suspension fork. These changes were mostly for aesthetics or on a whim, but I believe they were for the best. My bike now has a near complete Silver and White aesthetic to it, all the way down the the pedals and stem. The Avid BB7 upgrade from the BB5’s were influenced by a deal from a friend on a brand new set, and the front fork was an offer that I could not resist; well… that and it was white.

I’m 167cm tall, with a 76cm inseam, and this is a 15.5″ frame. I chose this size, due to the fact that everything I read was that a smaller wheelbase was better for a 29″ bike. I was right; I still have issues on sharp switchbacks or turns, and SUDDEN changes in elevation; whether it be up or down. These issues are things that over the year of ownership, I have learned to find little ways to make up for the size of the bike, and geometry. Rarely ever does it slow me down enough to where I think about it.

What does bother me about this bike is the chainsuck. I have read and heard from other 29″ GF hardtail owners that they get unavoidable chainsuck issues just like me. Heck, I even clean my entire drivetrain after every single ride, and I still have issues. Whether it be from middle ring to granny ring, or vice-versa, I get the chain stuck between the chainstay and the middle chainring…. maybe…. one out of every seven times. It has eaten into the driveside chainstay, and I’m sure as hell that Trek will say it is just human/operator error. When they design a bike with less than 4mm of clearance from the chainstay to chainring, something is wrong. I know they needed lots of clearance very close to the crankset due to the larger wheel, and the opportunity and availability to use a big tire, but this is ridiculous. Seriously.

This bike has been a great beginner’s foray into mountain biking. It can handle just about anything you throw at it, except drops/jumps. If you have the nerves, you can keep up with your 26″ dual suspension friends, or even the 29″ DS’ers; that is if you have the legs… The Cobia has taken me places that I have never expected to go on any kind of bike, and I like that.

Laura’s roomate, Amanda, bought a mountain bike over the summer; (probably peer pressure from Laura) and is riding occasionally now. We also had a few other pals come along who rarely ever ride or haven’t ridden in a long time. This has taught me that going fast is easy, but staying back with the pack, and reassuring them on how to control their bikes is difficult, or at least taxing. It is sometimes easy to forget what parts of a trail you had issues with, or how you learned all of those little techniques that allow you to bomb through the singletrack.

Being able to convey those things to other people in layman’s terms without scaring them by saying something like “But don’t go into a really deep, dry rut, since if you oversteer you will crash” will have your bordering on a very thin line… You just can’t say those kinds of things. Yes, they are going to happen, but you don’t want to scare them, yet you want them to develop the skills to still ride with you, and keep the collegiate cycling lineage going. We ended up doing six miles in like an hour and a half. I kept telling myself:

“Stay calm and friendly, don’t scare off the newbs.”

Later that evening, after gathering some supplies and camping gear, Jeff, Laura, and I went back of the woods for a nice little cyclocamping trip. Grant Peterson would have been proud of me, since I came in normal clothes, didn’t wear my cleated-shoes; just my boat shoes, and brought a wool sweater to sleep in. I’m sure his heart would feel warm if he ever read this. Oh, I also decided to bring my cyclocross bike, since I knew I could do all the trails on it, and I could latch on my rear rack to strap all of my camping gear to it. It rocked. I felt like a BA being on a cross bike, going over roots, and hills, and being able to hang with the MTB’s 90% of the time. Good stuff.

We set up camp pretty quickly, and right after that, it became cold. Really cold. Colder than that one ex that cheated on you, then told you about it straight to your-face-cold. What else did you expect us to do other than to sit around a fire, and throw stuff into it while hanging out and talking for a few hours? Check the footage to see the rip-roaring fire~ 😀

Once again, the Wenzel tent used was comfy cozy warm, and did its job well. When I woke up in the morning, I tried to make instant pancakes, but the little optimus pan kept sticking so bad it wasn’t funny. I gave up and ate the rest of the trail mix I had brought. I was really missing the conveinances of a teflon pan right about then. Later that morning, we all hopped out of the woods, went on our way and planned on meeting back on Sunday.

After church, we all met up at Gene’s shop to load our bikes and gear. I brought an icebox full of water bottles, and towels; planning to jump in the Tygart River after the ride. I knew the course was going to be intense with Gene coming with us, but I never expected a pentagenarian, let alone someone a little older than that to slay us… without noticing it! His Gary Fisher HiFi Full suspension devoured the terrain, and left us in his dust.

Almost makes me want to get a full suspension… *suppress such thoughts, be a man!* Maybe I should just HTFU and learn how to ride and control my bike.

See how the tables turn? Friday, Kicking ass. Sunday, Ass = kicked.

Gene did help us out a ton on descents, switchbacks, and the rock gardens that I call Indian burial grounds; they’re mounds and piles of rocks built up in order to ruin your pedals when you climb up them. Video below.

Wonderful Scenery

Our trip was a success, and we ended up reinforcing our tradition of jumping in the river. It was much colder than it was

on Thursday (Did a reconnaissance ride with Laura), and I can only imagine it will get colder and colder until it is unbearably frigid, and we all get hypothermia walking back to the vehicle. Jeff on the other hand is a competitive swimmer holding records for the state of WV, and whatnot decided to swim across the river, back, and then all the way out again. He is not human; must investigate further.

All in all, this was a jam-packed weekend that really shows that WV is the place to be to have tons of outdoor activities in your backyard. While the scenery and environment was great, going out and doing things with your friends is better. Building camaraderie, and testing each other’s legs through little camping trips or race courses is a blast.

I hope all of you readers get a jeep full of people out this next weekend and plan something great. I’m sure you deserve it!